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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: march · degree · bat · wake · vault · file · present · last

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. file — a tool
  3. present — a gift
  4. degree — temperature
  5. present — the time now
  6. march — the month
  7. present — there
  8. vault — a safe
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. last — final
  13. march — the month
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. last — to go on
  16. degree — an amount
  17. degree — from a university
  18. file — a line of people
  19. file — a document
  20. wake — a trail
  21. bat — the animal
  22. march — music
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. bat — for baseball

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com